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What is an internship and why are they important?

Luke Howk, COB Internship and External Partnerships Coordinator, was a guest blogger for the Career Development Center

2014-09-26

Whether it's during a conversation with a friend who brags about the amazing internship they just landed or while you're being interrogated about your future plans by that beloved aunt at a family reunion, at some point during your college career the topic of internships will come up. No matter how the intership conversation starts for you, it's natural to have questions about what an internship really is and why they're so important these days.

There are a few standard explanations of what an internship is. One example is the Random House dictionary definition which says an internship is "any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession." Internships.com describes an intership as "on-the-job training in a field that a student or new worker wants to learn more about." While these definitions sound similar and relatively dull, you may find it interesting that they are interpreted in very different ways depending on who you talk to.